Winners of Jodi Awards 2015 announced

Rebecca Atkinson, 27.05.2015

Three organisations recognised by digital inclusion awards

Edinburgh City Library, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights and the Finnish Association of the Deaf were announced as the recipients of this year’s Jodi Awards, which recognise the use of digital media to widen access to museums, galleries, heritage sites, libraries and archives.

About 60 people attended an evening ceremony at the British Library last week to see the awards presented by disability campaigner Jane Campbell.

Edinburgh Libraries was recognised for its work using technology to improve access for people who are blind and partially-sighted, while the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg was praised for improving access to the museum using accessible videos featuring audio, audio description, sign language and closed captions.

The Finnish Association of the Deaf in Helsinki was awarded the prize for its online library, which is open to everyone free of charge. All the materials are available in sign language.

Heather Smith, an access and equality specialist for the National Trust and a volunteer for the Jodi Mattes Trust, which runs the awards, said: “We were really encouraged by the international flavour to this year’s awards, and that our winners represented a broad range of cultural organisations.”

The awards are now in their 11th year, and are run on a biennial basis.

Smith said that although details of the 2017 awards had not yet been confirmed, the trust hopes to widen its influence and help support museums and other cultural organisations that want to develop digitally-inclusive projects.